Pope phones family of slain U.S. journalist

Pope Francis phoned the bereaved family of a U.S. journalist killed by Islamic State militants in Syria.

Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the pope phoned relatives of the late James Foley on Aug. 21 to console them for their loss and assure them of his prayers.

Passionist Fr. Ciro Benedettini, assistant director of the Vatican press office, told reporters the next day that the pope's call came shortly after 2 p.m. New Hampshire time, and that the conversation was "long and intense."

Francis was particularly "struck by the faith" of the late journalist's mother, Diane Foley, the spokesman said. The pope spoke with her and the deceased's father, John Foley, through an interpreter. At one point, an unidentified family member came on the line and was able to converse with the pope directly in Spanish.

According to The Associated Press, U.S. officials confirmed a graphic video released Aug. 19 that showed Islamic State fighters beheading Foley, a 1996 graduate of Marquette University who had been a freelance journalist for the past several years, mostly in the world's trouble spots. In 2011, he was kidnapped on a Libyan battlefield and held captive in Tripoli for 45 days.

Before you can post a comment, you must verify your email address at Disqus.com/verify.Comments from unverified email addresses will be deleted.

Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger.

Don't use obscene, profane or vulgar language.

Stay on point. Comments that stray from the original idea will be deleted. NCR reserves the right to close comment threads when discussions are no longer productive.

We are not able to monitor every comment that comes through. If you see something objectionable, please click the "Report abuse" button. Once a comment has been flagged, an NCR staff member will investigate.